Avalon is the enchanted island of Arthurian legend – where Excalibur was forged and where the wounded king was taken to be healed
The Avalon in Clapham holds sixteen hundred and thirty-three reviews and a 4.2 – a large, fair sample – and it is named after one of the most magical and evocative places in all of British legend: Avalon, the enchanted island of the Arthurian tales, where Excalibur was forged and where the wounded King Arthur was taken to be healed, or to sleep until Britain needs him again.
The isle of legend
Avalon (or Avalon the “Isle of Apples”) is one of the central mystical places of the legend of King Arthur – the great cycle of British myth surrounding the once and future king, his knights of the Round Table, the wizard Merlin, the sword Excalibur, and the quest for the Holy Grail. Avalon is the magical island associated with the deepest mysteries of the Arthurian world.
It was to Avalon, according to legend, that the mortally wounded Arthur was carried after his final battle – borne away across the water on a barge by mysterious queens, to have his wounds tended on the enchanted isle. And there, the legend says, he does not die but sleeps, waiting – the “once and future king” who will return in Britain’s hour of greatest need. Avalon is thus a place of healing, mystery, and the promise of return – one of the most romantic and enduring ideas in British myth.
Excalibur and the isle of apples
Avalon’s magic runs deep in the legend. It was said to be where Excalibur, Arthur’s magical sword, was forged – the blade given to him by the mysterious Lady of the Lake, and returned to her waters at his death. The name “Avalon” is often connected to the Welsh and Celtic word for “apple” (afal), making it the “Isle of Apples” – an enchanted, fruitful, paradisal island, an otherworldly place of eternal plenty and beauty, akin to the blessed isles of many mythologies.
Avalon belongs to the deep Celtic tradition of the magical island across the water – the otherworld, the land of the ever-young, the paradise beyond the sea to which heroes are carried. It is a place outside ordinary time and geography, a realm of enchantment, healing and immortality. As a pub name, it reaches for this whole world of magic, romance and legend – one of the most evocative and mystical names a place can bear.
Glastonbury and the real Avalon
Avalon has a genuine connection to a real place: Glastonbury, in Somerset. Glastonbury Tor – the striking conical hill rising from the Somerset Levels – was, in ancient times, surrounded by marsh and water, effectively an island, and it became identified with the legendary Avalon. Glastonbury Abbey even claimed, in the Middle Ages, to have discovered the tomb of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere – a claim that drew pilgrims and cemented the identification of Glastonbury with Avalon. To this day, Glastonbury is steeped in Arthurian and mystical associations, a centre of legend, pilgrimage and (in modern times) of alternative spirituality and, of course, the famous festival. The “real” Avalon, insofar as there is one, is the misty Somerset landscape around Glastonbury Tor.
The pub
A large, popular pub doing a fair 4.2 across a large and real sample, named after Avalon – the enchanted isle of Arthurian legend, place of Excalibur’s forging and Arthur’s healing sleep.
Verdict
Large, popular, and named after mystical Avalon – the enchanted Isle of Apples where Arthur was healed and where, the legend says, he sleeps still, waiting to return.
Have a pint at the Avalon, and raise it to the once and future king – carried to the enchanted isle to sleep until Britain’s hour of need, in one of the most magical legends these islands have.
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]
